Welfare is the provision of necessary support, whether monetary, social or otherwise, to people who do not have the current means to meet their basic needs. The main goal of welfare is to help those who do not have the ability to meet these needs with the income they currently earn. This welfare is usually provided by the government and takes shape in various programs and policies. The social welfare system mainly addresses the social problems of poverty, disability and economic disparity found between the middle and upper classes and the lower class population. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Economic well-being impacts the poor in many different ways by aiming to close the gap between the level at which an individual currently lives financially and the level needed to support basic human needs. Programs like TANF, food stamps, and housing and child care vouchers are primarily aimed at helping those living in poverty because they are need-based programs. For an individual or family to participate in these programs, they must meet certain criteria based on poverty and financial aid. A problem that arises directly from this is that these programs are not available to those families deemed to be living above poverty. Those who are just above qualifying for welfare programs may still struggle to make ends meet but are unable to receive any government aid. This raises the question of how to define poverty and the poverty line. Should those who live above poverty but are still struggling be able to receive financial aid? Does this require a change in how we define the poverty line? Social assistance programs aim to reduce the percentage of people living in poverty, but it is important to consider the success of different programs. Social assistance is primarily defined as “direct public provision of cash and in-kind benefits to individuals and families, free or at below-market costs” (Abramovitz). It is often thought that this system only serves to help the poor, but what many don't realize is that its reach goes far beyond that. There are many social welfare programs that benefit middle- and upper-class people, and these programs are often considered to receive more federal funding and fewer stipulations than those that serve the upper class. Middle-class and affluent families benefit from welfare in many ways. In 2000, the government spent more than 3 times more money on programs that do not require poverty or other needs as a qualification to receive aid than on programs that target it. directly those who lived in poverty. There are many reasons for the disparity in funding: one of the main ones is that there are more people living above the poverty line than those living below it. This difference also arises from the fact that inclusion program requirements are normally less restrictive for those programs that benefit the middle and upper classes. These differences are highlighted in the U.S. House Committee on Way and Means' comparison of disparities in the average monthly monetary benefits of individuals participating in welfare programs. This report considered Social Security and public assistance as the two main categories of welfare programs, then focused on benefits per person. The workers in..